


Bunny Boy

by kibumy



Category: SHINee
Genre: College!AU, Fluff, M/M, Mild Swearing, Sappy Ending, cheesy crush, roommate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22928557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibumy/pseuds/kibumy
Summary: Prompt Summary: A gets a daily bunny calendar to cope with his feelings about Jinki, who is (for better or worse) his roommate, friend and, oh, the love of his life for the past five years.(for the Winter of Shinee fic collection)
Relationships: Kim Kibum | Key/Lee Jinki | Onew
Comments: 17
Kudos: 31
Collections: Winter of SHINee





	Bunny Boy

Kim Kibum awoke before his alarm clock in the dark hours of the morning to hear his roommate, Jinki, turn on the shower. He sighed and curled further into his comforter, knowing that he’d unfortunately have to get up soon as well. He wasn’t mad that he had to get up early for class, he was frustrated because getting out of bed meant a 99% chance he’d run into his roommate, wrapped up in a towel, soft skin still steaming from his ultra hot showers, with sleepy eyes that scrunched up into little crescents when he smiled and-

Yes. Kibum was completely infatuated with his roommate, and it frustrated him to no end.

Kibum begrudgingly sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes, making his way toward the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. He miscounted how many scoops of coffee groups he used and ended up making a _strong_ pot of coffee, but it wasn’t anything a little extra cream couldn’t fix. By the time the pot of coffee had finished brewing, Kibum had heard the shower water turn off. He felt his cheeks immediately start to burn as he stirred powdered creamer into the drink, knowing what was coming-- it was like this every morning. Jinki would come out of the bathroom in his towel and pour himself a cup of coffee, before taking it back into his room to finish getting ready for class.

As if on cue, the door to the bathroom swung open. Although Kibum had been preparing for this, a sudden wave of dread came over him as he scrambled to pretend like he was busy and wasn’t just waiting to see his roommate half naked again. He heard Jinki walk into the kitchen as he was pretending to look for something in their cabinet. Jinki stopped nearly inches away from Kibum, who had started to sweat in places he didn’t even know he could sweat.

“What’cha lookin’ for?” Jinki asked, staring into the cabinet of dishes. Kibum jumped at the sound of his roommates voice.

“Oh!” Kibum frantically reached and grabbed his Mickey Mouse mug from the shelf, “I, uh, I was looking for a mug! For my coffee!”

“Me too,” Jinki giggled and took the mug from his hands, “but isn’t that your cup of coffee right next to you?”

Kibum stared at his full mug of coffee while his brain cussed him out before letting out a completely awkward laugh.

“ _Oh_! That’s where it went!” Kibum sung like a liar, chugging down his hot coffee. Jinki looked at Kibum with that adorable smile on his face (yeah, the cute crescent eyes one that made Kibum panic) and sipped his coffee.

“Hm, tastes different. New brand?” Jinki asked politely.

“...Yes. Yes it is. Do you like it?” Kibum asked, not wanting to admit his error. His stomach dropped. _Oh no, he hates it._

“It’s strong, I like it.”

Jinki took another sip and added the tiniest ‘Mm!’ before making his way back to his room and closing the door, towel tied securely to his waist. He had a little bounce to his step, and it reminded him of a little bunny.

Kibum tried not to let his heart flutter away that morning.

Jinki and Kibum had been living together at university for five years now. Their first year, they were assigned as each other’s roommates, and lived on campus. That first year living together was when Kibum’s fat crush on Jinki developed, and has only gotten worse as the new semesters began.

The two boys clicked instantly. They had a similar way of living that complimented each other, so they never ran into any roommate issues that needed to be dealt with. They both lived pretty separate lives and had different majors, but still made time to have a meal or hang out with each other. Kibum could tell that Jinki really valued their friendship, but he was afraid that was the extent of it. What were the odds of his roommate being into men and actually wanting to date him? Just because Kibum was infatuated with Jinki didn’t mean he wasn’t a realist. He figured the odds were low, but that wouldn’t stop him from crushing on him from a distance as far as roommates could get.

At one point, Kibum feared Jinki would be moving out after graduation and contemplated confessing to him, but that was put on hold when he revealed his plans for attending grad school at the same university. Instead, the two have remained roommates since, and no confessions had been made… yet.

Kibum’s favorite part about Jinki was their late night conversations. Kibum would come home from the bar at 2 A.M with a nice tequila buzz, and Jinki, the night owl that he was, would still be awake to greet him. The two would then chat for hours about anything. Kibum knew half of it was the alcohol talking, but Jinki never showed an ounce of disinterest, and was always willing to talk with him. They’d talk about anything-- from telling stories, to coming up with crazy conspiracies, their late-night talks would often end in the wee hours of the morning, the both of them silently noticing the sky changing from pitch black to indigo.

It was also those same nights that Kibum would fall asleep crying under the first rays of morning light, realizing he had once again not gotten the courage to confess his feelings. His crush was eating him alive and he didn’t want to admit it.

Monday was grocery shopping day for Kibum, who thankfully remembered to bring his reusable grocery bags with him to class. The three-block walk to the store was brisk from the January winds and messed up his hairstyle. Kibum huffed as he stepped inside the automatic doors. He worked hard on his hair. Seoul winters were no joke.

The time he spent at the grocery store was bliss for Kibum. He took his time with his shopping list, pacing the aisles slowly, observing all the different brands on the shelves while letting his mind wander far away. He preferred to shop with his headphones in, purposely cutting off all distractions from the outside world. He never needed any help finding what he wanted, anyway. For some people, their form of relaxation and “me time” could be a bath or a nice workout session, but for Kibum, it was shopping. Not just for groceries, either. He was particularly fond of fashion, and enjoyed mixing and matching outfits and accessories together. He initially transferred to his University with a fashion major, but quickly changed to a business major due to lack of confidence. Jinki once mentioned that he could still go into fashion, but more on the marketing side, and since then, Kibum hasn’t regretted his decision too much.

Kibum eventually gathered all the things he needed from his list and roamed the aisles a bit more before heading to checkout, shopping cart in tow. He liked to shop on the healthy side, but his sweet tooth would always show up for one or two extra items in his cart.

The lines for checkout were surprisingly slow for midday shopping, so Kibum browsed the magazine stands lining the register for something interesting to read while the lady two customers up asked if the department store “took checks.” The young man thumbed through the tabloids, but stopped when his fingers met a different texture of paper. Pulling it out of the mess of tabloids and magazines, Kibum discovered it was a calendar. They were pretty commonly strewn about the store as it was the new year, so someone must’ve decided they didn’t want to buy it last-minute and stashed it there. Kibum wouldn’t have thought nothing of it, if it weren’t for the fact that the calendar included pictures of baby bunnies, all of them reminding him of Jinki.

Kibum’s face turned rosy as he looked around, making sure nobody was watching him toss the calendar onto the register belt to be included with the rest of his items. Another impulse buy couldn’t hurt. The young cashier girl swiped it across the scanner and into a bag without a second look, probably lost in the monotonous cadence of a grocery store clerk’s daily work. Kibum paid quickly with his card, gathered his bagged items and made his way out the automatic doors. The evening wind was sharp and brisk to his cheeks and nearly blew off his scarf whilst stepping out onto the street. Thankfully, his apartment was only a quick walk away from their local grocery store, so he hastened his pace to get home before his nose froze off.

Kibum fumbled with his keys while trying to hold his grocery bags and ended up cracking an egg, which he cursed out loud for and tried to pick it up with his bare hands. Jinki must’ve been in the kitchen, because he was opening their apartment door within seconds. He looked down at the shivering man covered in raw egg and surrounded by groceries, and giggled like a little kid.

“Need some help, Kibum?” Jinki smiled warmly. Kibum felt his cheeks magically heat up.

Jinki bent down and gathered all of the grocery bag handles into his fist, swiftly lifting them all up and into the kitchen to be placed on the counter. Kibum quickly picked himself off the floor and grabbed a rag to take care of the mess he made. When he was done cleaning up, Jinki had already put away half of the groceries.

“Hyung, you don’t have to do that!” Kibum whined and searched the bags for the embarrassing calendar he’d bought. A sigh of relief--it was still in one of the bags, out of Jinki’s sight. Jinki laughed and ruffled Kibum’s hair.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t find anything I wasn’t supposed to see,” the older man grinned and shot him a wink, which struck Kibum right through the heart like Cupid’s cheesy little bow and arrow.

“Y-yah!” Kibum smiled and chucked the raw egg-covered towel at Jinki in embarrassment. Jinki dodged it, per usual. This sort of thing happened a lot.

Once the groceries had been put away and Jinki had settled down on the couch to watch his favorite show, Kibum quietly snuck away to his room, bringing the calendar with him. Kibum decided to hang it on the inside of his wardrobe door, so it wouldn’t be visible with the door closed. Kibum pushed the thumb tack into the cheap wooden door of the wardrobe and stepped back, admiring the cute little baby bunny that was featured for the month. The bunny was cream colored, and it’s ears were tucked back, making the small animal look even more adorable and innocent. Kibum smiled softly at the small, fluffy creature, before the image of Jinki once again appeared in his lovestruck head. Jinki looked just as delicate and warm as the rabbit on the calendar, and Kibum couldn’t help but imagine what Jinki would look like with cute bunny ears. He thought he was a little strange imagining his roommate with fuzzy little rabbit ears and got himself a bit embarrassed by it, but after another minute of staring at the calendar, Kibum let out a sigh.

“Oh, who am I kidding? You’re adorable,” Kibum gushed, so lost in the thought of his roommate, “...But stop doing nice things for me, like helping with the groceries. It’ll only make me fall for you more.” He pouted at the calendar, as if it would respond.

The sound of Jinki getting up from the couch to start dinner snapped Kibum out of his little daydream, to which he shut his wardrobe door and rejoined the older man in the kitchen. He found Jinki staring at a pot of water on the stove, waiting for it to boil so he could make some instant ramyun. Kibum giggled, which got Jinki’s attention, who smiled as warm as the sun back to him.

“A watched pot never boils, Hyung,” Kibum voiced, opting for a bowl of cereal for dinner. Jinki snickered in response.

“Bammie,” Hearing his own nickname always gave him butterflies. “Want to share some ramyun with me tonight? This pack I got actually serves two, and I can’t eat it without your help.”

Jinki beamed and held up the packet of fire noodles with both hands. Kibum’s heart skipped a beat, and then another. This was the first time Jinki had ever offered to share his noodles-- they were his favorite junk food, and it was the only thing he’d be territorial about. It might seem like a pretty normal thing for roommates to share some ramyun, but to Kibum, he could literally hear the wedding bells ringing in his ears.

“Sure, I’d really like that,” Kibum replied, trying to hide his obvious excitement. He got to work plating some side dishes while Jinki dropped the rock-solid noodles into the now boiling water. Not much was spoken, but the sound of the TV being on drowned out any awkward silence between the two. Kibum had a strong feeling that Jinki knew he was into men, but wasn’t bothered by it. Kibum had never come out to his roommate formally, but Kibum’s definitely had some “close call” moments during his time as Jinki’s roommate. Jinki, on the other hand, happened to be very reserved about his sexuality from what little Kibum knew about it. It was mysterious, and as cheesy as it sounds, it really interested Kibum. 

The thing about Jinki that made Kibum fall the hardest, however, was his aura. His smile was contagious. Yeah, he was full of cringy dad jokes and silly puns that didn’t make sense, but this man was golden from the inside out, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t happier by his side, even if it was just as roommates.

Once the noodles were ready, the two sat down at the table and tucked into their meals. They both cracked open an ice cold beer (even though they’d vowed to only drink on the weekends and that began like two weeks ago) and slurped down the noodles while watching the soccer match from the kitchen. Jinki was right, there were plenty of noodles in the pack for two servings, possibly even three. By the time they had finished and their mouths were on fire from the sauce, both were content and moved to the couch to finish watching the game. Kibum could admit he wasn’t a fan of soccer, or any sport for that matter, but Jinki was extremely busy with his master’s program. The time between dinner and bed was the only time they had together, and damn it, Kibum was going to milk it as much as possible.

It wasn’t long after the soccer match that Jinki dozed off in his seat, snoring softly. Kibum had mainly been scrolling on his phone for the past hour (he’d gotten sucked into the Instagram explore feed once again) that he didn’t realize Jinki had fallen asleep until his snores became louder than the TV volume.

Kibum’s heart did at least 40 backflips at the sight of Jinki soundly asleep, looking adorably wiped out from the busy day of classes and studying he had. The light from the TV screen glossed over his cheeks to the tips of his small eyelashes. Kibum couldn’t move. He was paralyzed by Jinki’s natural beauty in the low lighting, and he didn’t want to risk waking the man up. He sat there for a few minutes just listening to Jinki breathe, before slowly sliding off the couch as quietly as he could. He crept around the corner to his room and grabbed the extra blanket he stored in his closet, the soft and fuzzy one that guests went crazy for when they spent the night. Unfolding it without a second thought, Kibum laid the blanket upon his roommate, gently tucking him in. There was no point in asking Jinki to get up and move to his room-- he slept like a rock. Kibum resisted the urge to run his fingers through the man’s hair and instead turned off the TV and headed back to his room, closing the door behind him. Kibum had another early class the following morning, so it was off to bed for him as well.

He opened the door to his wardrobe to grab his pajamas when his eyes fell upon the little bunny calendar. He was reminded instantly of his crush, which sent butterflies fluttering all around his tummy. Kibum smiled tenderly at the little baby bunny picture.

“Sweet dreams, Hyung.”

Deep down, Kibum hoped those dreams were of him in return.

The next morning was like a blur. Kibum had overslept his alarm twice, and practically dove into the shower for a solid three minutes, frantically scrubbing his head with shampoo. He didn’t even bother with planning an outfit for today, he was late and being basic was his own form of punishment. He hastily threw on some Adidas sweatpants, an old college tee and the first pair of shoes he could find and sped out of his room, only to run right back and grab his backpack that he forgot. The apartment was empty already, so Jinki must’ve already had his alarm set before he fell asleep the night before.

_Jinki_. Kibum smiled to himself while popping a piece of toast in the toaster. _Cute, snoring Jinki. Sleepy, soft Jinki. Jinki with bunny ears--WAIT. There’s no time for toast. What the hell am I doing?!_

Kibum snapped the bread out of the toaster as quickly as he put it in, not bothering to find anything else to eat. He was nearly out the door, anime-style with a barely-toasted piece of bread sticking out of his mouth for breakfast when he noticed the blanket he’d tucked Jinki in with was folded neatly and placed on the kitchen table. On top of the blanket was a sticky note that read, “Thank you, Bammie,” with a little drawn heart next to his name.

It took him a few seconds to process the note and when it became clear that Jinki drew a heart next to Kibum’s nickname, his face was a deep red. Kibum kissed the note and held it up like it was a winning lottery ticket, grinning ear to ear. Not before long, Kibum snapped back to reality and and realized he had about 53 seconds to make it to his lecture on time. He folded and stuffed the sticky note into the front pocket of his backpack and bolted out the apartment door. It was going to be another long day, but it was going to be a good one. He just had a feeling.

Classes went on as usual, but today’s lessons were particularly interesting, which made Kibum actually want to participate. It was nice getting to focus on something different and unusual for the day. To his surprise, he barely even thought about Jinki, and he only noticed as he sat down to eat lunch during the gap between his second and third class of the day. As he dug around in his backpack, ransacking it to find his bag of chips he stashed in there, he managed to pull out the sticky note from that morning.

Kibum’s heart felt like it just revved it’s engines. Sure, the heart probably meant nothing to Jinki. It was probably just him trying to be cute, he does that. But still, that slight feeling of hope clung to his chest and made him feel like the most head-over-heels man in the world. He tucked it back into his backpack for safekeeping and took out the rest of the lunch he picked up at the 7-eleven on campus. He wasn’t particularly fond of convenience store food, but it would have to do for now. 

Kibum’s last class of the day dragged on for what felt like days, despite it only being a three hour class. Kibum would ditch if he weren’t such a chicken, so he spent most of the time in the lecture on his laptop, doing some online shopping. Once class got out, Kibum began his short and chilly walk home down the road to their apartment. To his surprise, he came across Jinki coming in the opposite direction. Jinki noticed him and waved.

“Hey, hyung. Are you coming from our place? I thought you were in class at this time?” Kibum asked, genuinely curious.

“Class was cancelled, so I came home to take a nap,” Jinki yawned, stretching out his shoulders. “Didn’t sleep very well on the couch.” He giggled, and that made Kibum smile. “Thanks for giving me that blanket, though. I might have to steal it from you though, It’s insanely comfy. It was sweet of you.”

Kibum chuckled. “Of course. It’s no problem.”

It was sweet of you.

_It was sweet of you._

Kibum felt his soul transcend the depths of reality at that moment. He doesn’t remember what his reaction was, but he’s pretty sure he blacked out for like 30 seconds after that. Jinki mentioned he had to get to class, and Kibum waved him goodbye and walked up to the entrance of their apartment complex, fumbling with the keys. Kibum was on emotional overdrive. How could that one sentence paralyze him so bad? 

Kibum stumbled through the apartment and into his room, ripping open his wardrobe door to reveal the same baby bunny calendar from before. It swung heavily on it’s little thumb tack, but remained upright and at face-level.

“How dare you!” Kibum yelled dramatically, shoving his face into a pillow and groaning loudly. “‘It was sweet of you'?! Are you kidding me?! That’s the cutest fucking thing you’ve ever said to me, Jinki, oh my god! I really like you!” Kibum shouted at the innocent little bunny on the calendar, obviously not expecting a reply.

“Really?”

Kibum yelped out of sheer terror. There, in the doorway to his room, was his roommate, who had most likely heard whatever mess Kibum just spewed out to his bunny calendar. In Jinki’s arm was a textbook, and Kibum assumed he’d forgotten it and turned around to grab it before class. His stomach dropped to the floor, coming to the reality of the situation. To his utter amazement, Jinki didn’t look angry, or appalled. He was just smiling delicately. 

“You like me?”

Kibum was at a loss for words. The time had come for him to confess and he had no idea what to do. He never got to practice! He just stood there in silence, completely lost. He really felt like crying.

“Because it’s okay if you do, Kibum.” Jinki added, leaning against the doorframe, looking fondly at him. His stubby little fingers played with the pages of the textbook in his hands. Kibum must’ve looked like a deer in headlights. What the _fuck_ just happened?

“To be honest, I’ve had a feeling you’ve liked me for a while... you’re not very good at hiding secrets, Bum.” Jinki chuckled, looking as normal as ever.

Kibum regained enough strength to sigh deeply, searching for the right words to say next. This was an outcome he only wished would happen. He never expected it to come true.

“Hyung, I...” Kibum paused, “...Please don’t let this ruin our friendship. I really don’t know what I’d do…” Kibum’s eyes began to well up, and he couldn’t fight it. His legs felt like jelly so he sat down on the edge of his bed. Jinki grabbed the tissue box off of Kibum’s desk and handed it to him gently. Kibum avoided eye contact, but took the box anyway.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Kibum,” Jinki smiled, “You don’t have to hide that you like me. I don’t mind.” 

Kibum looked up at the ceiling to stop his tears from flowing. This was the first time he’d ever cried in front of his roommate.

Jinki played with his thumbs and a peachy blush formed on his soft cheeks. “I don’t know if I’m set out for dating right now… but I’d be willing to start off slow if you’d like.”

A million fireworks couldn’t compare to the explosion in Kibum’s chest.

Tears flowed from his brown eyes once more, dripping off of his paleface and into his lap. Jinki took a tissue and wiped them away carefully. “I’d really like that, Jinki-ah.”


End file.
